Presidential first pitches

President William Howard Taft throws out the first ball of a baseball game for the Washington Senators in Washington in 1912. AP/FILE

President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers the first pitch at the season opener between the Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics in Washington in April 1938. AP/FILE

President Harry S. Truman prepares to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Washington in April 1949. William J. Smith/AP/FILE

President Dwight Eisenhower throws out a ball, which was his second pitch to open the American League baseball season, April 18, 1960. Vice President Richard Nixon is seated at left. Bob Allison of the Washington Senators, who caught the first throw, is at right. AP

In April 1961, President John F. Kennedy throws the first pitch at Griffith Stadium in Washington. AP/FILE

President Lyndon Johnson throws out the first ball to open the American League baseball season, April 13, 1964. The first pitch ceremony preceded the opening game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Washington Senators. At left is House Speaker John McCormack of Massachusetts. AP

At a Washington Senators game in Washington in April 1969, President Richard M. Nixon throws out the ceremonial first pitch. AP/FILE

Former President Jimmy Carter throws the first pitch in a baseball game beside Cuban President Fidel Castro (l.) in May 2002 in Havana, Cuba. Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom/FILE

President George H.W. Bush throws out the ceremonial first pitch to mark the start of the 1989 baseball season at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, April 3, 1989. The Orioles faced the Boston Red Sox in the season opener. George Widman/AP

President Bill Clinton throws the ceremonial first pitch at Jacobs Field, April 4, 1994, in Cleveland, prior to the start of the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners. It was the first pitch in the Indians' new stadium, built on the edge of downtown. Mark Duncan/AP

Former President George W. Bush throws out the first pitch at RFK Stadium in Washington for the start of the Washington Nationals home opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks in April 2005. Lawrence Jackson/AP/FILE

President Barack Obama throws out the first pitch before the All-Star baseball game in St. Louis, Mo., in July 2009. On April 5, Obama will deliver the first pitch at the Washington Nationals home opener, almost 100 years since then-President William Howard Taft threw out the first pitch at at Washington Senators game. Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP/FILE

In 2004, Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president, found himself being mocked for, among other things, his love of windsurfing. The sport was used as a metaphor for Senator Kerry's "flip-flopping" in one of the campaign's most devastating ads, which showed Kerry on a board, flipping from one side to the other, as the voiceover listed his seemingly contradictory positions on issues.